The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 39-Reunion

Ji Pengcheng held a cane in one hand and led Tu Tutu with the other. When he opened the door and went in, it was already dark. Su Qing had his back to them, holed up bonelessly on the couch. He hadn't turned the lights on. He was playing with a lighter, turning it over and tossing it, lighting it, letting the flame go out. The tiny flame shone on his face, faintly showing his countenance. At a glance, he seemed to have become a different person.

At some point, there had begun to be some inscrutable, indescribable thing about him, a faint smile at the corners of his eyes, that made you think he had reached enlightenment. There was a thick book of newspaper cuttings on the coffee table in front of him. It had evidently been thumbed through many times by its owner. There was wear and tear at the edges and corners.

Tu Tutu didn't notice anything unusual about him. He trotted over to turn on the light and went up to Su Qing, smiling brightly. He reached out his somewhat longer but still pudgy little arms, squeezed his hands into fists, and began to knead Su Qing's legs for him. "Little Uncle, did you have a hard day today?"

Most recently, relying on his tricks and his glib tongue, Su Qing had been working as a reception manager in a hotel. He did it very skillfully, which, when added to the employee benefits and the group of beautiful girls under his leadership, meant that his life was practically comfortable—Su Qing didn't have much of a reaction to Tu Tutu's obvious flattery. He looked up at him absent-mindedly. "What is it? Did you fail another test?"

Tu Tutu: "Heh-heh..."

The little devil shuffled around in his bag and turned up an English test paper as crumpled as used toilet paper. Drooping and lifeless, he put it under Su Qing's nose. What met the eye was a bunch of unsightly scribbles, a group of big red Xs, and a frank 40%.

Tu Tutu said, "Look, Little Uncle, our class's great traitor to the nation foreign language teacher insists on having a parent or guardian sign..."

Su Qing glared, and Tu Tutu stuck out his tongue. "I...I mean that our class's dashing English teacher insists on having a parent or guardian sign. He keeps thinking that I'm not studying well. Actually, he doesn't understand, I'm a patriot, I believe..."

But before Tu Tutu could finish his nonsense, Su Qing left a flourishing signature in the place for the parent or guardian to sign, then waved a hand to send him away. "Go, go, go, do what you're supposed to. Don't stand there offending my eyes."

Tu Tutu rubbed his eyes, simply not daring to believe that his guardian had been so easily dealt with. He was empty inside, feeling that the quibbling arguments he had meticulously prepared had been squandered, his feelings wasted. Ji Pengcheng gave a dry cough, and Tu Tutu came around. He picked up his tragic test paper and dizzily walked away.

Su Qing stared at the book of clippings. There was news of every variety in it. On the surface, there were some items concerning missing people, some concerning infectious diseases, and some about car accidents, train crashes, and so on. The locations were all different, too, spanning the whole world. Many of them were foreign language articles—his advancing foreign language level was connected to collecting these things.

Ji Pengcheng got out his pipe and puffed away, polluting the air quality in the room. After a long time, Su Qing said, "Shifu, I need to go away for a while."

This was a complete non sequitur, but Ji Pengcheng took it as completely natural, as though he had been waiting for him to say this. He nodded indifferently. "Oh, then go ahead. Will you come back?"

Su Qing nodded. "It should be ten to fifteen days. Please watch the child for me."

Ji Pengcheng blew two threads of smoke out of his nostrils, like a big, wizened teapot. His lips were pursed practically down to his chin. Agreeing to take on a difficult task, he said, "Fine. First hand over the boarding expenses. No installments, one-time payment only."